Marja & Bert's Visit, Crocuses, Cycling & Polio in Nigeria.

Last Week

President Joan Donet

Marja & Bert Ettekoven

What a wonderful meeting!  Marja & Bert Ettekoven gave us an entertaining presentation on Delft before presenting the club with 6 000 Euros towards the Hotel Hope Project.  We had so many visitors for the event and for the club it was a special occasion as Bert joined Rotary at New Dawn and Marja was a permanent visitor from the Rotary Club of Delft during their stay in South Africa.


A big thank you to the Rotary Club of Delft and their District for supporting our project.

This cloth crocus is made be a Rotary Club in England and then shipped to Delft to be exchanged in aid of a Donation to Polio Plus.  What a good idea!






Captain Keith Holmes Salvation Army
We are sad to announce the death of Keith, husband of our fellow Rotarian, Major Carin Holmes.  Keith was the Donor and Development Relations Officer for the Salvation Army.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Carin and the Salvation Army at this time.
  
There will be a memorial service for Keith, at 11am this coming Saturday at the Salvation Army offices in Braamfontein.   It’s on the corner of Juta and Civic Boulevard (formerly Loveday St) in Braamfontein – next to the Parktonian Hotel. 

The Fast One Cycle Race Sunday 26th January.
Here are photos of our intrepid marshals at the cycle race a couple of weeks ago.  

And this is what they had to contend with!

What an escort for the last rider!

This Week
Is a Business Meeting....check the dates in the side bar!

A VOICE FOR POLIO ERADICATION IN NIGERIA

Sir Emeka Offor likes to describe himself simply: He is the son of a policeman, born in the small town of Kafanchan, Nigeria. It is a way of reminding himself of his humble origins. Offor – who worked his way up to become executive vice chair of the Chrome Group, a multibillion-dollar oil and gas conglomerate, and who founded the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, whose mission is to create economic opportunities in Nigeria’s poor communities – prefers to let his work and philanthropy speak for him. And with his most recent gift of $1 million to PolioPlus, Offor adds another achievement to his story: He is Africa’s single largest donor to Rotary.

“My dad had to make many sacrifices,” says Offor, a member of the Rotary Club of Awka G.R.A. “I decided I must support the underprivileged in society – the people who are not able to afford three square meals, or the people who can’t go to school.”

The effects of polio are still evident in Offor’s community: Nigeria is one of three remaining polio-endemic countries, and although it has made strides, the work of eradication has been challenging.

“At times the progress is slow,” Offor says. “But it is my deepest hope that we can inspire all Nigerians to work together to bring about the final, permanent, and irreversible eradication of polio.”